Disturbing the Peace
by HalfEatenMuffin
Summary: Gensokyo's way of life is on the brink of becoming endangered. The cause? ...Well, the problem stems from the lack of it, actually. Major incidents have become less frequent, and there seems to be no hurry to break this long streak of non-violence. That, of course, simply will not do. Watch as Yukari of all youkai decides to amend this error...for her own vague agenda.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Touhou Project nor do I own any of its characters. That right belongs to ZUN.**

The heartbeat in nothingness/everything. Residing against/with the black/white foreground/background, always/never there. The only thing left bound with restrictions, its slow pulses indicating its slumber, among the chaotic/orderly world/void. It thrummed unceasingly; slowly, peacefully, but with tremendous power, each beat shaking/stilling its resting place/awakened void. It had only been there for an instant/eternity, but it had felt like an eternity/instant. Now it was time to wake up/slumber. Slowly, the heartbeat trembled and rose in octave, as the surroundings began/ended to brighten/dull. The resulting pulse let loose wave after wave of power, going outwards/coming inwards, giving shape to the world/void. And so the plane of contradictions was made stable, its boundaries solidifying in place, and the abyss took shape once more. One not of mortals, nor of the divine; a world of blank darkness, dotted with endless numbers of curious red eyes. All of them looked silently towards the heartbeat, which was growing louder, once again taking form, the conscious reshaping its body from nothing. The figure formed, raised its hand, and sliced reality in two, with the sound of a blade being drawn:

 ***Shiiiiiiiiiinnngg!***

* * *

Gensokyo. Home of the forgotten. The sun was shining, the air was fresh, and some of the fairies were hosting various games of tag for sheer amusement. This was the scene to which a hole in existence made itself known, ready to encompass the entire world, only to be thwarted by two red ribbons. The wide scarlet eyes of the gap peered curiously out onto the fresh grass, admiring the world beyond itself in all of its natural glory, before returning its attention to its former occupant, who gently floated herself down onto the ground in her white dress adorned with frills, parasol in hand.

 **Boundary** of **Instantaneous** and **Eternal.**

Immediately, the conceptual barrier that kept the two opposites apart was distorted, becoming semi-permeable and allowing eternity's concept to be applied to the instant in which the woman stood. Time became trapped in amber; figuratively, of course, but it might as well been, considering how everything was now frozen. It was unlikely that, if the being had been anyone else, she would've been unable to tell that time was, even now, barely inching forward; not that it would get anywhere. Now then, where exactly was she, and who was she, and why…

 **Boundary** of **Remembered** and **Forgotten**

…Ah, right. She was Yukari Yakumo, the Border of Phantasm, the Youkai of Boundaries, and she had once again awoken from her hibernation… if one could even call such a state 'hibernation'. That would explain why she was feeling so groggy right now. Speaking of which…

 **Boundary** of **Awake** and **Asleep**

Now, swiftly re-energized, and in the privacy of 'nearly' frozen time, Yukari decided to stretch out her newly remade muscles. Sure, there was a boundary for that too, but had been a while since she had been awake, and stretching them just felt right. Not that she'd let anyone know about this little wake up routine, or the fact there was ever a time that she dropped her mysterious facade. There was just way too much fun to be milked from the paradise's inhabitants that would otherwise be missed, including its shrine maiden.

Yukari paused, and her grin widened. _Especially_ its shrine maiden.

Recollections of the many times she had managed to irritate the red-white came trickling to the forefront of her thoughts. The simplest way to tick her off was by simply appearing in some random place in and around her shrine, or perhaps just making the shrine's donation box vanish for a period of time. None of those, however, could compare with the expression Reimu had created when said shrine maiden had first discovered that the request to fix the border between the Netherworld and Gensokyo went completely ignored. The red-white's face had swelled from white to red to purple in a matter of seconds in her comical anger. Like…like a tomato, attempting to become an eggplant through sheer willpower.

Yukari reflexively pulled out a paper fan from nowhere to hide the soft laughter the comparison invoked. She began to wonder what other colors Reimu's face cou-

 **Boundary** of **Focused** and **Scatterbrained**

A quick snapping noise echoed through her head, and suddenly Yukari found her priorities straightened. A disappointed sigh escaped the Border of Phantasm. But, of course, there were still things to do; reminiscing would have to wait.

Recalling that she hadn't exactly had any sustenance in however long, and disregarding the fact that she didn't necessarily require physical sustenance anyway, she flexed her will and reached for the threads that were the tapestry of existence.

 **Boundary** of **Reality** and **Fan-**

...No, that wouldn't do. That boundary was much too much for a simple cup of tea. Yukari briefly glared at her own hand, as if it was the one who decided to spawn things from pure imagination, then lightly shook her head. It seemed that she was becoming rusty in the creative use of her power. Using one boundary too much left other options for granted, and while the border between fantasy and reality was a powerful one, that did not make it the only one that mattered. Not to say that she was against adjusting the line that separated those two concepts in any way; it was one of her favorites, in all honesty. Rather, it was simply the fact that manipulating the same borders over and over took the variety out of life way too often, and, while such a practice was incredibly convenient and undoubtedly useful, it could potentially hamper the full potential of her abilities; not to mention said habit's tendency to make the passing days duller as a side effect.

With this in mind, the youkai sage turned her attention back to the task at hand. She was the youkai of _all_ boundaries, so it was better fitting that more than a mere handful of them got a chance being bent to her will.

… **Boundary** of **Tea** and **No Tea**

The air before her shimmered, and the lack of presence from the vaguer definition of 'tea' was flipped almost entirely on its head; in this case, that vaguer definition being a fine china teacup filled to the brim with the hot, freshly-prepared beverage, as that is what most entities visualized when the word 'tea' was mentioned. As a result, this image became physically present before her; where it had come from, though, was anybody's guess. Yukari caught what she had summoned with grace and politely sipped from the cup with elegance. It wasn't long before she decided she didn't want anything other than tea presently, and, unsurprisingly, the gap youkai soon began gazing at the borders that defined the tea itself.

 **Boundary** of **Filling Meal** and **Light Meal**

Redefining where this border divided either concept effectively made drinking the cup of tea the equivalent of eating a ten-course supper, and in no time at all, Yukari's stomach was filled to the brim. So fast, in fact, that the gap youkai was almost surprised by how quickly her drink had disappeared. Just almost, though, considering the fact that an instant and the concept of eternity...were still...intermingling…

Oh, right. By the Dragon, she was off today.

 **Boundary** of **Eternal** and **Instantaneous**

Just like that, the translucent border hardened, and soon the world was once again roaring with color and noise, the birds and fairies sprang to life as the moment was freed from its eternal imprisonment. The Border of Phantasm briefly considered covering up her slight mistake, but ultimately decided against it, knowing that only Eientei's Lunarians might've sensed what happened, and, most likely, the maid.

And hiding anything from Eiki was fairly useless.

Willing the still-present gap behind her to close and taking a good look around for the first time, the Border of Phantasm realized that she was standing near the banks of Misty Lake, which could certainly explain the number of fairies present. As she watched the fairies go about in their playful demeanor, Yukari's trains of thought (yes, plural) began to take a different route. "I wonder if anything interesting happened while I was away," the gap youkai mused to herself, chuckling at her little joke. Of course something interesting had happened; it was simply the nature of Gensokyo. Overtaken by curiosity, the Youkai of Boundaries took hold of one of the more particularly helpful borders.

 **Boundary** of **Knowledge** and **Ignorance**

"..."

For a few moments, the blonde mastermind was silent; the loud bickering coming from the fairies' direction faded into background as Yukari crossed the metaphysical line that naturally dictated that, since she had not been actually present in Gensokyo for however long, she was therefore unaware of the events that had transpired in her absence; a dictation that was soon to be made invalid as the result of her actions. A stream of visions stirred within her head, and Yukari looked on with anticipation as she was presented with a short, vague summary of what had happened since she had last been present.

"...Hmm...well, but of course...that'll have to be fixed…the barrier is still intact, obviously...Hakugyokurou might need a bigger budget ...Ran and Chen are fine…perhaps that needs more attention…"

….That's it? The gap youkai blinked in mild shock, before checking the boundary again, and several other borders like it. Only to end up with the same results. Aside from a few issues between some youkai and the Human Village, a large crater now existing near Eientei, and that amanojaku messing with the locals, absolutely nothing significant had happened in her absence. Which was almost alarming, seeing that, in Gensokyo, some major incident occurred on a regular basis. She shook her head slightly in disbelief. No, that couldn't be right, she was certain that the boundary between peaceful and troublesome had been singing quite a different tune not too long ago; perhaps there had been a misinterpretation?

Yukari idly noted that the local wildlife-er, fairies-had inevitably taken their petty arguments and upgraded to a brawl, taking pleasure in hurling large amounts of danmaku at each other. Coupling that with their typical frailty, the scene quickly transformed into something of a firework show, with each shot turning a participant into an explosion of sparkles. Yukari admired the morbidly fascinating scene in silence, contemplating her newest dilemma. These days, the only source of entertainment, besides the occasional practical joke, readily available was watching Reimu and company put hordes of enemies through the figurative cheese grater. With this unexpected stretch of peace, however, the inclination to cause trouble was reduced, most likely by a significant margin if the youkai were content, however unlikely. While not always the case, it usually meant less time for entertainment, and more time towards upholding Gensokyo's foundations, which, while important, meant checking the insides of the giant inter-dimensional bubble that was the Great Hakurei Barrier more frequently than what was probably necessary. While boundaries were her specialty, staring at one for however long was not her cup of tea, so to speak.

…An amused smile crossed the gap youkai's face when she recognized the pun she'd offhandedly made, taking a glance down at her empty drinking utensil before depositing it in a gap that obediently zipped itself away soon thereafter.

Joking aside, even if her shikigami were stupendous helpers in this regard, the fact still stood that she needed to keep tabs on that vital border regularly. Otherwise, Shikieiki, as Gensokyo's Yama, might get the feeling that something was off, and could start to get …suspicious. Which never bode well when the deity was off duty.

Yukari shivered involuntarily. Even if she wasn't directly under Eiki's thumb, the last thing she needed was to go through another one of the Yama's infamous lectures about "bad habits and the evils they give birth to". Escaping those never-ending speeches while on the judge's hit list was a task often easier said than done. And while yes, some youkai would eventually snap and do something stupid, she was bored; an emotion that seemed to be growing all the more common as of late. So, by default, there was only one option le-wait a second.

An idea striking her, the Youkai of Boundaries snapped her fingers and thought of some of the more entertaining moments she had come to observe, from the priceless faces Miko's group had displayed the night Yuyuko was challenged to an eating contest to the time Marisa had found the means to somehow steal Remilia's wings right off her back. The initial surprise, the moment of realization, the endless laughter and, in Remilia's case, the torrent of death threats that followed that were all embedded in Yukari's memories, memories that now stepped forward in response to their owner's silent command. The barriers that served as the universe's foundations were once again revised, but this time, Yukari reached within, and gently grasped her own emotions.

 **Boundary** between **Excitement** and **Boredom**

Yukari gasped as she felt an indescribable rush course through her, a sense of jubilation that she had nearly forgotten. The thrill of adventure, the love of wacky antics, and the appreciation for life was renewed and doubled within her, and, for once, she truly felt 17 years old again.

For a whopping ten seconds, before her pesky sense of reality kicked in and realized there was no reason to be excited.

Yukari sighed and cracked her knuckles; well, it wasn't like it had lasted indefinitely any of the first million times she tried it.

So yeah, as she was saying, the only option left was to cause an incident herself. The gap youkai grinned with a strange sense of anticipation. Disregarding her daily manipulations, it seemed that, for in whoever knows how long, she was going to be the direct culprit behind Gensokyo's newest disaster, as technically she wasn't the entire reason the Netherworld and Gensokyo were so close; Yuyuko asked her to make it so. She couldn't, in good conscience, let Reimu lose her edge, now could she? The red-white miko had been undoubtedly been taking advantage of the long, relatively peaceful time to laze her days away. With the events that could come, that needed to change.

Yukari's thought trains were kicking into high gear now, zipping around the nonexistent confines of her brain, and making annoyingly loud locomotive noises that would have most people covering their ears; not that Yukari was like most people anyhow. The gap youkai drove those trains with passion, and again promptly decided that enough wasn't enough.

 **Boundary** of **Mischievous** and **Serious**

If it weren't for the fact that Yukari was wearing her near impenetrable facade, she probably would've cackled out loud, and everyone with a half a mile of her would've fled in fear. As it was, the only scrap of evidence that hinted at the maelstrom whirling in Yukari's head was her slightly larger than normal smirk that gently adorned her visage. If she was going to downgrade from Phantasm Boss to that of Stage 6, she was going to make sure that the entire trip would be an experience.

 **BOUNDARY BETWEEN CHARACTERS AND THEIR MEDIUMS**

Yukari's face morphed into a scowl as sudden pain introduced itself, her head throbbing as the annoying headache suddenly started screeching at her. Reflexively, the gap youkai reached for the cause, and soon the sensitive, upstart boundary was yanked back into its original shape and placement, from which it had so rudely been dragged from.

"..."

...She thought she had finally been rid of that little issue. Hadn't the last migraine been years ago? Why was she having one now?

"… _Perhaps it was mere coincidence."_

She dismissively shook her head and regained a pleasant smile on her face. Now, where exactly should she start?

"Hey, you!" hollered an indignant voice, sounding very much displeased. Yukari looked back at the lake, managing to keep the mild irritation off of her face, to bear witness to an almost completely fairy-free body of water, save for the large amount of sparkles that now polluted its surface, as well as a lone figure hovering above the carnage. The creature-ahem, fairy, wore a blue dress that ended in white triangles, and came equipped with a green bow tied to back of her head that contrasted well with her lighter blue hair. But her most notable (and, if Yukari had to say, iconic) physical features the fairy possessed were the six sharp icicles that took the place of her wings.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you, lady!" the bluenette yelled again, despite the fact the two literally couldn't have been more than five meters away from each other. "I'm Cirno, and I'm the strongest, so you better get out of my turf before I make you!"

The gap youkai felt her irritation morph into amusement as she realized who was speaking. Ah, yes. The infamous troublemaker whose two purposes in life was to claim that she was better than you and substitute for comic relief. It was almost sad, considering that this was the only Gensokyan fairy that ever gave the black-white of all people a run for her money. Once. Maybe twice if she really counted.

Yukari gave Cirno's triumphant pose a once over before smiling condescendingly at the hyperactive idiot. "Don't you mean get _off_ your turf?"

"No! I mean get _**out**_ of my turf! You're clearly standing in the water, and I won this lake fair and square!" Lord Baka herself exclaimed indignantly, aiming her index finger towards Yukari's lower half. Yukari took a look down, and to her surprise, she was in fact standing in the water Cirno had so boldly claimed as her own.

" _I guess I really wasn't paying attention during that brainstorming session,"_ The gap youkai thought with a feeling of slight embarrassment that failed to express itself whatsoever to the world outside her body. Not that it was going to ever happen if she could help it. She did have an image to maintain, after all.

"So, what makes this lake yours, ice fairy?" Yukari inquired as she casually parted the waters around herself, figuring that Cirno would most likely fall victim to the change in subject. And fall victim she did.

"Duh! This is my home! And I'm the strongest! AND I defeated everybody else here to prove I'm the strongest!" the popsicle responded with a large amount of enthusiasm, a grin searing itself onto her face in place of the scowl that had been there.

 _"...Not including the marine life, apparently,"_ Yukari mused, taking note of the quiet presences lurking further beneath the giant lake's surface. _"It would seem that Cirno is entirely unaware of those who live in the depths. Curious. I wonder if the fish know that they've gained a landlady?"_

"…Was there any particular necessity for wiping out so many fairies?" Yukari inquired idly, devoting a minimal amount of of her brain power to the conversation, and devoted what remained to brainstorming...potential strings of events. Cirno was all too eager to answer.

"Weeell, I was actually spending some time with Wriggle and Rumia this morning," the bluenette began, failing to notice the slightly sour expression Yukari gained at the mention of the darkness youkai, "But when I came back, all these meanies were hogging my lake and my house to themselves! They wouldn't go away, even when I asked nicely! So, I challenged them to a game of tag, and if I tagged everyone they would leave! They all agreed, and I got them all!"

"Was it freeze tag?" the gap youkai deadpanned, arriving at this conclusion before Cirno could even get halfway through.

"You see, there's this special style of tag that only I can perform, and-HEY! Let me finish my story!" Cirno whined, expelling a fine mist from her body in her annoyance. "Anyway, after I revealed my secret technique, no one stood a chance! But when I unfroze them to make them leave, they got all angry, and started a danmaku battle! So I'm proved to them yet again why I am the strongest! That's what they get for playing in my lake without permission!"

"You do realize that many of those fairies may live here as well, right?"

"Yes, but that only makes it more important that they know who they're messing with!"

Yukari was beginning to wonder whether talking to the overenthusiastic child was even worth the effort of standing in the lakebed. There were definitely better things to be doing, notably deciding how to protect the well-being of the shrine during her scheduled chaos. Hey, there was a line not to cross, after all. So why was she humoring this fairy in the first place? It's not like Cirno would play any part in her newest...plan.

Wait a minute.

At this point, Cirno had to be one of the more well-known nuisances in Gensokyo, and largely ignored due to fact she, well, wasn't very bright or mature, as most fairies tended to be. She challenged more people to a fight than a Pokemon Trainer, and whenever she did leave 'her' lake, she had a tendency to leave trouble in her wake. Despite what most would say, she was fairly powerful.

So… how would Gensokyo react if Cirno actually became a threat? Or, dare she think it…useful?

Yukari started to emit a bit of her malevolent aura as she began chuckling to herself. The expressions of shock and disbelief certainly wouldn't be few in number, that was for sure.

An entertaining side project if she had ever thought of one.

Of course, being a fairy, her icy subject would need to be run through a couple of 'tests', but that shouldn't be much of an issue. If she had any redeeming qualities beyond her abilities, it'd certainly be those spouts of motivation she seemed to have.

…Actually, why stop at Cirno? She certainly wasn't the only individual in Gensokyo due for a bit of reforming; why not spread the love a bit?

"And another thing!" Apparently the ❾ was still talking. "You still haven't gotten out of my lake! Get out!"

Yukari indicated distractedly towards the completely dry circle of earth she was standing in, surrounded by but definitely not touching the water.

"The lake bed is still part of the lake, idiot! Fine, I'll make you get out!" Cirno created a literal hailstorm of projectiles and flung them at the perceived intruder, who was still thoughtfully rubbing her chin with one hand, and resting her open parasol against her shoulder with the other.

 **Boundary** of **Here** and **There**

Two portions of space were thrust aside as the gap ripped itself into existence in front of Yukari's pondering form, a few of its ruby eyes glaring at the incoming projectiles, and the wave of sleet was promptly consumed. A similar rip in space materialized above Cirno, resulting in bathing the fairy of cold in the frosty shower of her own attack.

" _W-what?_ " Cirno thought to herself in shock, soon moving to and fro to avoid being hit; no one had ever redirected her attacks so easily before. After the downpour subsided, Cirno took a closer look at her opponent. ...Now that she was really thinking about it, she vaguely remembered something about portals with ribbons on them…

"...Oh hey! You're that Your-Car-Fee person that everybody knows about!" the popsicle exclaimed in realization, hands on her hips in her triumphant pose.

 **Boundary** between **Irritation** and **Serenity**

Yukari's eye was prevented from twitching due to the skillful bending of the boundary most useful in these type of conversations. "Not quite, ice fairy." she said in a pleasant tone, "Try again."

"You-Can-See?"

 **Boundary** between **Irritation** and **Serenity**

"You-Can't-Pee?"

 **Boundary** between **Irritation** and **Serenity**

"Hmmm….Oh, I know! Gap Hag!"

 **Boundary** between **Anger** and **Serenity**

"...Hey, Cirno~, how would you like to become even stronger?" Aforementioned gap hag spoke in a sugary sweet tone.

"Huh?" The frosty prankster took a few moments to process the question, after which said question was finally able to shoulder its way through the TV static of Cirno's brain. "Wait a sec! You mean, there's a way to be even stronger than the strongest?" She lit up like her birthday came early when Yukari nodded ascent with an amused smile. "Yes! Of course I would! Would you really help me?"

"But of course! Think of it as a gift, a sign of goodwill between new friends." The Border of Phantasm cheerfully replied, shadows already lowering over her closed eyelids. "Would you come over here, please?"

Cirno did a little twirl in the air before landing on the water in front of Yukari, the surface instantly freezing over as soon as she made contact. "So, what kind of super special moves are you going to teach me?"

"It's a different kind of strength, Cirno," Yukari giggled innocently with that accursed fan over her mouth.

This caught the ice fairy's attention. "A different kind of strength? Isn't there only one kind?" she asked with a note of confusion.

Yukari made a show of looking around as if someone else might have been listening in, and turned to the eager ice fairy. "Can you keep a secret?"

Cirno was standing on her toes at this point, and nodding so fast her head nearly popped off.

Yukari slowly, slowly, ever so slowly leaned in, and gently whispered into Cirno's ear.

" _Enjoy the ride_. _"_

Cirno's face immediately screwed up in confusion. "What the heck does that-"

Unfortunately, the idiot was never given the time to complete her sentence, for as soon as she spoke, the dark void of the gap made itself known behind Yukari, and its summoner picked up the startled fairy by the back of her collar and flung her headfirst into the abyss. Cirno soon lost all sense of direction as she hurtled through the darkness. Whispers echoed throughout the sea of black. Each of the scarlet eyes she passed were sparkling with malicious glee, and Cirno soon found herself starting to panic.

That was before the pain hit.

A gap appeared in front of her, and Cirno was powerless to stop herself from passing through. Immediately a searing pain hit her, like someone was pressing an iron brand against her forehead. She yelped, and before she could recover, another gap had swallowed her whole. This time it felt like her entire body went numb.

But those were nothing compared to the third gap.

Cirno screamed as she experienced the horrid combination of a hangover, migraine, and headache all at once, multiplied by ten. The fairy could literally feel her brain swelling against the inside of her thick skull, convulsing as it expanded and stretched, until it felt like her head would explode. Thousands of realizations passed through Cirno's mind, but she was unable to comprehend any of them. The background whispers rose to a crescendo, garbling and hissing in unintelligible strings of words, as Cirno wrapped her arms around her head to unsuccessfully block out the pain and the noise. Eventually, it became too much for the ice fairy to handle, and she began to slip from consciousness. A single voice rose above the others, bearing a phrase that echoed in Cirno's subconscious long after she fell from the waking world.

" **Boundary** of **Intelligence** and **Stupidity"**

End of Prologue


	2. Cirno Day Update

**(For those who wish to skip my monologue, the story continues in the next no such chapter exists yet, please disregard this message.)**

* * *

 **Um... I'll be honest, I have no idea how to start one of these things. Guess I'll just roll with it.**

 **I started this fic as a small passion project. It had only been a year or two since I had discovered Touhou, and I was tired of simply lurking in the shadows, admiring the content that other fans seemed to pump out with never-ending vigor. I was inspired, I was awed, and for once, I wanted my own passion to be seen.**

 **Plus, it was a chance to work on my writing skills, which was never a downside.**

 **So then, why hasn't this fic seen an update since last year?**

 **Well, a couple factors were involved, but the first of them was simple enough.**

 **I bit off more than I could chew.**

 **I'll admit that it was entirely my fault in getting overzealous of where I could take my story. It starts off simple enough, sure, but even back then I had a grand vision for the endgame. Even when I didn't know a quarter of the cast, or the fact that official Touhou manga existed. But in doing so, burnout hit all the harder when my inspiration ran dry. Not to mention the fact I had never written fanfiction before, so the sensation was entirely new to me.**

 **...Actually, I'd say inspiration is the wrong term. Even now, I have several unwritten scenes planned out, but going about fitting them securely into the narrative took more out of than I'd like to say, even if I was happy with the end results. And bringing a bunch of characters and themes together was always a trial.**

 **So I guess it would be more accurate to say that my motivation ran dry.**

 **Secondly, I'd do well to inform you all that my time management skills are less than desirable, and they're still something I'm struggling to improve to this day. Even now, I'm typing this in the remaining hours of 9/9/2019 (which is partly responsible for reminding me that this fic existed in the first place (Cirno, you brilliant baka, you)), hoping that I'll get this posted in time.**

 **Nonetheless, I have returned to bestow the second entry to this tale upon the three or four people who have so patiently been waiting for it for all these months; if not now, then relatively soon.**

 **Oh, and anyone else interested, I suppose.**

 **Now, as for what I'll do next is another question entirely. It will take some time to find and pick up where I'd left off so abruptly in my work, and to get back in the swing of writing in general. Sometimes, I wonder if splitting this fic into several would be the better decision, considering the number of directions I'd like to take it. Maybe I'll even start another little fic entirely, just so I can slowly readjust myself to whirlpool that is creative writing. Maybe even drop this story entirely. Who knows?**

 **But as it is, I'll leave this fic whole. As previously mentioned, I do have a few chapters waiting to be posted, so I'm planning to do that in increments and see what kind of feedback I get. Frankly, I'm tired of staring blankly at the sea of words before me, wrestling with the idea of revising.**

 **So that's it for now. Oh, and for those of you who have actually managed to read through all of that, here's a little something I wrote way back when, back when I was under the misconception that Daiyousei was also a fairy of cold XD. It's not exactly finished, but I kinda forgot where I was going with it. Regardless, I hope you enjoy.**

 **Happy Cirno Day, everyone!**

* * *

The sun shone radiantly that day, the pleasant spring breeze whisking across the land of Gensokyo. A land filled with enchantment, wonder, and beings with powers that others would find absurd. A land that was surprisingly peaceful despite the numerous incidents that regularly threatened its tranquility. It was almost surprising that Gensokyo had known peace for this long without some random occurrence disturbing the natural balance of the world.

Almost.

Still, with the long, cold winter months behind them and the promise of sunnier days yet, the residents of Gensokyo were looking forward towards the new days ahead and going about their daily routines, whether it be lazing about, admiring the blooming flowers, or simply not caring for the change in weather.

There were some, however, who weren't quite done with winter yet.

Specifically, a pair of happy ice fairies.

"Heads up, Dai-chan!" an exuberant voice yelled as a snowball was flung at a little girl with green hair and dragonfly-like wings. The girl noticed the projectile and quickly flung herself to the right, leaving the snowball to whiff through the open air. The now-named Dai, or rather Daiyousei, frantically began to search her surroundings for her assailant, while simultaneously creating her a snowball in both hands. "Where are you," the ice fairy whispered to herself, searching for her evasive target. Suddenly her eyes widened, and she quickly flew higher as three more snowballs zipped through the space she previously occupied. "There!" Daiyousei zeroed in on the origin of the frosty bullets, and was rewarded with the sight of a blue haired fairy with six large shards of ice in place of wings. This was Cirno, leader of team nine ball, friend of Daiyousei, and Gensokyo's resident idiot. At least, that's what most would say if one were to ask about the icy troublemaker.

She remained standing in place, hands on her hips, with a confident grin glued on her youthful visage. Daiyousei immediately heaved her ammunition at the stationary fairy, only to have her shift to the left, leaving both of Daiyousei's snowballs to miss entirely. "Come on, Dai-chan! It'll take a lot more than that to bring me down!" This declaration was soon followed by a silly, joyful laugh, the kind that can get annoying at times, but one can't help but love. Cirno soon found herself on the receiving end of a hailstorm of snowballs, and was soon forced to zig zag through the onslaught to avoid being struck.

"Oh, you want snowballs? I'll show you snowballs!" Cirno exclaimed, her eyes glinting at the challenge. As soon as the barrage ended, Cirno quickly expelled a cloud of mist from her form, which quickly condensed into a large cloud of the frosty projectiles, and soon launched themselves at Daiyousei with frightening speeds. The greenette quickly retreated into the air to avoid being pelted, only to realize that the snowballs were following her. Thinking quickly, Daiyousei shot sheets of ice into the oncoming swarm. One by one, the frosty missiles were destroyed, until there were none left, allowing Daiyousei a quick second to breathe. " _Man,_ _Cirno-chan_ _sure is competitive today_ ," Daiyousei thought to herself. " _Oh, who am I kidding? She's always this competitive_." Her mouth twitched into a grin, only to slip off her face when she found that she couldn't see Cirno anymore. "Wait, where is s-"

"Oh, Dai-chan~" called a sing-song voice dripping with anticipation. Daiyousei immediately whirled around, only to be smashed in the face with what would better be described as a snow boulder, which fell and hit the grassy field below with an earth shattering WHAM!

After a few seconds, an irate Daiyousei head emerged from the resulting pile of snow to glare at Cirno, who was floating weightlessly in the air, clutching her stomach as she laughed. "Cirno-chan! We agreed that we would only attack with snowballs!" Daiyousei whined loudly, shaking herself free from the pile of slush. "But Dai-chan, that was a snowball!" Cirno laughed, her laughter slowly descending into giggles. Daiyousei pouted for a moment, before grinning sinisterly. "Really? Then I suppose that this is a snowball too!" A giant icicle manifested itself above Daiyousei's outstretched palms, before Daiyousei flung the cold javelin at Cirno's giggling form. Cirno instantly sensed the large mass of cold hurtling at her, and rolled out of the way. "Oh, it's on now!" Cirno yelled, her silly grin stretching even wider.

 **BGM: Beloved Tomboyish Daughter**

The fight soon escalated from a simple snowball fight to a true danmaku duel, with the pretty bullets soon introducing themselves into the fight. Cirno fired off wave after wave of icicles and beams of cold energy, and Daiyousei spammed off endless daggers of red and green energy, as well as her own icicles. However, both were so caught up in the battle, that they failed to notice that they were slowly inching towards a field of sunflowers.

A very familiar field of sunflowers.

"Take this!" Cirno hollered with playful aggression as she continue to pelt her best friend with various arrays of danmaku, forcing the green-haired fairy on the defensive, weaving with some difficult through the sea of frost. Being an ice fairy herself, Daiyousei had no real problem with the rapidly dropping temperature. However, the icicles that did connect with her skin were starting to take their toll. Daiyousei yelped as the damage made itself known, but pushed on, desperately racking her brain for a way to stop Cirno's continuous barrage.

' _Darn it,_ _Cirno_ _!_ ' Daiyousei thought irritably as she grazed by yet another icy laser, followed closely by the bluenette's laughter. Daiyousei shook her head to dispel the mildly annoying sound. She knew that she was no real match for Cirno in danmaku, considering that the infamous troublemaker was in fact more powerful than most of Gensokyo's fairy population. She also knew that despite what most would say about her best friend, Cirno was of average intellect; how else would she able to pull off her pranks? It simply buried under that stubborn and hard-headed attitude that Cirno had. No, while outsmarting her friend was certain possibly, Daiyousei knew that her stamina wouldn't last long enough to come up with a move Cirno hadn't seen before, and the thought of overpowering her fellow ice fairy was a laugh. How, then, was she supposed to-

Ah. Daiyousei giggled to herself. Yes, that would do quite nicely. Sure, Cirno might be upset at being defeated in such a way, but Daiyousei was quickly running out of options.

As Cirno was preparing to send another wave of cold, Daiyousei took a deep breath, and yelled, "Hey, isn't that a frog?!" pointing vaguely somewhere over to Cirno's left.

Cirno immediately let up her assault and spun herself in the indicated direction. "Where!?" she shouted, her eyes reflecting malicious glee.

Yep. That'll do it.

Daiyousei grinned widely and quickly conjured up as many bullets as she could with her remaining energy and flung them at Cirno's oblivious form.

"I don't see any-" The semi frog-fanatic cut herself off as she looked back with surprise at the number of energy daggers seeking to make her their pin cushion. Acting on instinct alone, Cirno faced the threat and mustered her strength, gathering the warmth from her surroundings, making the temperature drop even lower. "Perfect…

Daiyousei, on the other hand, had just noticed exactly how close they were to a large expanse of sunflowers, and paled as she realized just who those sunflowers belonged to. "WAIT, CIRNO-"

"FREEZE!" A staggering ring of arctic air burst from Cirno's body, launching itself in all directions, encasing all of Daiyousei's danmaku in shells of ice. Cirno quickly focused on the frozen bullets, and soon they all shattered into harmless shards.

"Hah! What do you think of that, Dai-" Cirno boasted before noticing her friend's

expression. She looked like she just had every drop of blood emptied in her veins. In fact, Cirno couldn't recall, in all their years of adventuring, her best friend looking this afraid.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Cirno asked her companion with concern. Daiyousei gave no response, simply hovering in place with wide eyes, looking like she would drop dead any second. Cirno looked over her own shoulder, and Gensokyo's nine ball felt her own eyes bulge.

A portion of the Garden of the Sun had just been introduced to Antarctica. A thick sheet of ice had paved itself across the soil, and the sunflowers had already turned an unnatural shade of blue, quickly withering where they once stood proud.

The sunflowers of one Yuuka Kazami. Yuuka, the immensely powerful flower youkai, who had gone berserk the time Cirno had simply touched one of her sunflowers. That Yuuka.

The two fairies' faces slowly became whiter the longer they stared at the frost-ridden carnage.


	3. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Touhou Project nor do I own any of its characters. That right belongs to ZUN.**

Chapter 1

Ouch. Condensation. Ouch. Tundra. Ouch. Algebraic Formulas. Ouch. Powdered Milk. Ouc-Wait what?

Cirno slowly opened her eyes and groggily lifted her head. Her eyes soon screw themselves shut again as another wave of nausea shot through her system. What the heck happened? Did she drink from that oni's sake gourd again? Who'd she tick off this time? Her head was throbbing, and the simple act of thinking coherently was making her sick. She attempted pushing herself off the ground, but soon collapsed back onto her stomach as the pounding of her heart echoed in her ears. The only thing that registered within the ice fairy's senses was that wonderful earthy feeling in her mouth, confirming the fact that dirt did indeed taste horrible.

After a few minutes of lying pathetically on the ground, her heartbeat began to slow, and the torturous headache tormenting her was finally letting up on its assault. Gingerly, Cirno took both of her hands and applied her palms against the surface below her. Soon, the ice fairy was able to push herself into a sitting position, and took great pleasure in spitting the chunks of dirt filling her chewhole out upon the ground while doing so. Carefully opening her eyes, Cirno's blurry world slowly began to filter into acceptable proportions. It seemed that she was sitting in a ditch not far from the shores of Misty Lake (Her Misty Lake, Cirno offhandly thought with pride).

For a brief moment, the popsicle gazed at the clear blue waters of the lake as they rippled, the mysterious mist the lake was known for gently floating into the air and going wherever the wind took it.

That moment was soon gone though, and an angry horde of questions quickly laid waste to the tranquility of Cirno's mind. No, seriously, what had happened? Why did she feel so awful? Why was she laying in the dirt? What was that smell? And why were the remains of her enemies, of whom Cirno knew had been floating in the lake waters moments before, nowhere to be seen? Of that, she was most certain. It was part of being the strongest to know your victories, and Cirno knew for a fact that she had defeated her brethren in both a game of tag and a crude danmaku battle. So where was the proof?!

"Perhaps the dust simply disappeared while I was asleep. It doesn't last that long anyways," the rational part of Cirno's brain reasoned.

The Unnatural Chill relaxed a little bit. Yeah, that made sense, fairy dust didn't last forever, and she didn't know how long her unplanned nap was-

Cirno froze in place, figuratively of course, with wide eyes.

Did she...did she…was she the one who had thought that?

She looked around quickly, like someone else had provided the answer for her unspoken question. When she realized there was no one else present, the ice fairy stared dumbly at the water's surface. She... had really been the one to think that? Usually, it took her additional two minutes just to recognize the fact that something was wrong, but having the answer from the get-go? Cirno took a moment to sit in complete awe of herself, with her mouth hanging wide open in her surprise.

But she soon shook her head. Nah, it couldn't be her. She wasn't smart, everybody knew that. She rather go out of commission than admit it out loud, but almost everyone did smart things better than her. Heck, even Mystia could handle financial management to some degree, running a food cart and whatnot-

Cirno froze, once again in shock. How...did she even know what financial management was?! At this point, the ice fairy was starting to panic, finding this way of thinking strange and unfamiliar. Fairies didn't just become smart overnight, did they?

The fairy attempted to use her newfound brainpower to figure out a plan of action, and was mildly surprised when she actually came up with one. Keine! Keine was smart; maybe she'd know what to do! With that, Cirno got to her feet, and launched herself into the air, heading towards the Human Village as fast as her frozen wings could carry her.

* * *

"Now then, can anyone tell me what the quotient is for this equation is?" One Keine Kamishirasawa asked her class, which currently consisted of various species of youkai. No one was quite sure how she managed it, but the were-hakutaku somehow managed to balance a schedule to teach both the younger inhabitants of the Human Village as well as the youkai who wished to learn (or had to be taught) in an impressive display of efficiency. As one of the best educators the village had to offer, Keine spent her days teaching her students in the ways of math, Gensokyo's version of science, and, most importantly, history. While not seeing all youkai as trustworthy, and not particularly fond of some of them, she was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, so if they wanted to attend her school, letting the join wasn't out of the question. Provided that they took no hostile actions towards any of the humans while in the village, lest they receive immediate suspension and a free headbutt.

Keine scanned the classroom now full of raised hands and chose one at random. "Daiyousei?"

The green-haired fairy perked up and rose from her seat, fluttering to the front of the classroom and landing daintily in front of the blackboard. Without a word, she picked up a piece of chalk and began to apply the formula she had been learning for the past hour to the board, writing out the problem at hand. When she finished her work, she stepped back lightly and waited for Keine's evaluation.

Keine's eyes wandered over the completed equation with practiced ease, and the teacher soon turned back to the patient fairy with a smile. "Well done, Daiyousei. 19 divided by 2 does in fact equal 9 with a remainder of 5."

Daiyousei's eyes lit up, but before she could voice her happiness, Keine raised a hand. "However, while the answer is correct, I said to leave all the answers found today in decimal form. Meaning," she said, revealing her own piece of chalk, and using it to fix the answer while still talking. "That the answer in this problem would be 9.5. You'll still get half-credit though."

Daiyousei looked embarrassed, but nodded politely and headed back to her seat.

"Now, for the rest of the time we have together, I want you all to work on the division packets under your seats, pages 1 and 2."

The class acknowledged their teacher, some more reluctantly than others, before all of them grabbed the folders in which the were-hakutaku's newest assignment was located. The classroom was quiet for a time, the only noise filling the room was the scratching of writing utensils.

Keine sat down behind her desk and sighed in mild exhaustion. She only wished that her classes could be more diverse. She was only one teacher, and so far, no other human had been willing to join her staff thanks to her more open-minded policy towards the youkai. The villagers didn't go out of their way to discriminate them, fortunately, but they did make sure to be overly cautious. Not that she would stop teaching either way, and she certainly didn't blame them for being cautious, but it bothered her somewhat that such views were common in the Human Village. They were a minority in a world full of youkai, so the least humanity could do was try to understand them more.

...Although youkai, as a species, relied rather heavily on human fear, didn't they?

"..."

...Perhaps that lack of understanding was for the better, then. Unfortunate as it was.

A shuffling noise reached the teacher's ears, and Keine realized that one of her students was raising their hand; she could immediately tell who it was based on the...interesting way that she was doing it. "Yes, Rumia?"

Rumia, in order to maintain the crucifixion pose she needlessly took whenever possible, had decided to lean over so that one arm was sticking in the air and other was touching the ground. She sat back up straight as soon as she was called on, and voiced her question. "Keine-sensei, is there any way to make it warmer in here? It's getting cold."

Keine frowned. Cold? She knew it was close to nighttime, but the majority of the youkai in here were primarily nocturnal anyway, so it shouldn't have been a bother to them. Unless, of course, something was causing a sudden drop in temperature, which shouldn't be the ca-

Keine's eyes narrowed. She stood up from her desk, and turned towards her admittedly small class. "I have a feeling I have something that needs attending to, so please keep working in my absence. I trust that you won't try any funny business while I'm gone. That means you, Rumia."

With that, she stepped out her classroom to find, lo and behold, a frantic ice fairy was pacing up and down the hallway, clearly in distress, muttering to herself, "Oh man, I'm in so much trouble! I forgot to come to class today! Keine is going to be so mad at me! ...I know! I'll say that I accidentally used the hot water this time, and was too weak to come!"

"Too late for that." Came the curt reply from behind the ice fairy. Cirno spun around, but it was already too late. Instantly she was ensnared by Keine's arms, and the headbutt came down without mercy.

* * *

"Seriously Cirno, I only request that you come to class twice a month, even though you clearly need more. What makes it so difficult?" Keine said irritably, rapping a small roll of medical tape around Cirno's head. Believe it or not, Cirno had actually managed not to pass out this time, most likely due to long-term headbutt exposure.

"Cause I forgot! And it's boring!" Cirno cried in protest, her arms crossed in a defiant pose, pouting; not that it would help her argument.

Keine rolled her eyes at the predictable excuse Cirno used everytime she failed to show up. "Well, with that attitude, it'll always be that way. It's your own responsibility to learn; I can't do the work for you."

Cirno puffed her cheeks out indignantly in response, before remembering that she was here for a reason. "Hey Keine?"

"Ah ah ah, we've been over this, Cirno," Keine responded in a light, disapproving manner. "I'm your teacher, so therefore, I'm Keine-sensei. It's only polite to address your teacher as such."

Cirno's eyes narrowed at the concept for a moment, before deciding to relent in favor of getting an answer for the question plaguing her thoughts. "Keine-sensei. Is it possible for fairies to become smarter while asleep?"

Keine almost snorted aloud; out of all the ridiculous questions Cirno had asked her, this one had to be in the top five. But, seeing the dead serious look on the ice fairy's face, a rarity for someone of the popsicle's status, Keine decided to at least humor her. "No, Cirno, it isn't. In fact, as far as I'm aware, there isn't any kind of youkai that could pull that off." Here, Keine finished wrapping Cirno's forehead, set the medical gauze on the floor beside her, and leaned closer. "Why do you ask?"

Cirno looked hesitant; for a long moment, Keine wondered if something was really was wrong. Then the long-time absentee of her class looked up at her with eyes full of wonder, and whispered, "I think it's happened to me."

As soon as Cirno completed that sentence, one of Keine's eyebrows skyrocketed through the roof and charted a course for the stars.

The amount of skepticism radiating off the were-hakutaku was almost visible. Over all her years of teaching, no one had made such a claim. Sure, someone could become more knowledgeable with hard work and good study habits. But she had never heard of someone simply raising their IQ while unconscious through sheer willpower. Such an idea was preposterous. It was one of the few things that magic and genetics could agree on; there was no practical way to accomplice such a feat without forbidden spells or genetic engineering, both of which Keine severely doubted that Cirno had any access to and the latter being rather theoretical anyway. Perhaps this was her way of telling her that she would be applying herself more in class. Either way, it was time to call her bluff.

"Alright Cirno, I'll believe yo-"

"YES! I knew you would, Keine!"

"Quiet!" the teacher barked, causing Cirno to shrink back into herself. "You didn't let me finish. As I was saying, I will believe you, but only if you can solve the problem that I have in mind. Are you up for it?"

After hearing this, Cirno became nervous, knowing that she had never been good with puzzles and riddles. But she couldn't back down now! She was wanted to solve this mystery, and proving herself to Keine was the first step.

"I'll do it!" Cirno exclaimed with a voice overflowing with determination.

"Great! What's 2 + 3?"

Cirno's confident expression immediately cracked and shattered like a glass pane.

"Keineeeee! That's not fair! You didn't say it would be a math problem!"

"That's not my problem; it's yours, literally. Now hop to it, or else you're going to confess that you've been lying to get out of trouble."

Cirno desperately screwed her eyes shut in an attempt to recall any inkling of a memory from all those weeks ago. It was no use; all she could remember was some stupid youkai lesson, and a few facts. Darn Keine-sensei! Her teacher knew that she had trouble with math. Major trouble with math. It didn't help that the numbers kept floating off the page every time she tried to start the problem. And now, she didn't even have the textbook! Oh, what was she going to do?!

Cirno peeked an eye open at her teacher, who was still observing her with a stern gaze, now holding a glass of water in her right hand. Upon seeing this, the ice fairy quickly sealed it shut once more.

Usually, she would just write down the number 9 as the answer just to spite Keine, but that wouldn't cut it here. The popsicle nearly growled her frustration aloud. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd been to math class, much less what was taught in them!

A thought tickled the back of her skull. "Hey, I remembered that lesson, right?"

Cirno was quickly becoming irritated with herself. How was that supposed to help?! She was trying to complete a math problem!

The thought continued regardless, "Well, most youkai and fairies these days have hands with the exact same number of fingers as a human's, right?"

Cirno scoffed at the thought. What did that have to do with anything?

"Humans have 5 fingers; therefore, so do most youkai and fairies," the thought proceeded, "so wouldn't that mean that I also have 5 fingers? Fingers I can count on?"

"..."

It took Cirno exactly 3 seconds to process that before her face was split in half by the size of her grin. In almost no time at all, she had concluded that 2 fingers plus another 2 fingers and a thumb equaled 5 fingers, which she showed no hesitation of shouting out loud.

"Keine-sensei! The answer is 5!"

Keine, who had been taking a sip from her glass of water at the time, immediately doubled over and performed one of the most glorious spittakes Gensokyo had ever seen. After spending the next few minutes hacking up water, she turned to Cirno with eyes larger than Letty's hitbox. "I'm sorry, could you say that again?" the were-hakutaku said in a weak voice.

"I said that the answer was 5!" Cirno shouted, looking for all the world like the sun itself, she was beaming with so much happiness.

Keine's facial expression perfectly reflected the sense of complete and utter disbelief she was feeling right now. The one time that Cirno had actually tried an addition problem, even as simple as that, she had taken the entire class period to do so, and even then she hadn't gotten it right. Now, when asked on the spot, she had completed it in less than a minute. The kind of growth rate that implied was ridiculous, surpassing even her star pupils. How had she missed such an enormous change in Cirno?

"Or," she thought with a start, "or perhaps she was telling the truth."

Keine decided to simply take a moment to absorb this inane notion, while Cirno caused a light snowstorm to swirl delightedly above her head, unable to hold back her boosted sense of pride.

"…."

"..."

"...Cirno."

"Yes?"

"Would you mind telling me exactly what happened since the last time you were here?"

End of Chapter 1


End file.
